Nexton Development Expected to Accelerate
An area of Berkeley County the size of peninsular Charleston is quickly becoming the epicenter of new development on the region’s western edge six months after much of it changed hands. The Nexton community, a 4,500-acre swath of former forestland at the northwest juncture of Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 17A near Summerville, will one day house 7,000 houses along with schools, grocery stores, shopping centers, apartments and other facilities found in small cities.
The development of Nexton is expected to accelerate after March 2018. That’s when a new interchange under construction two miles west of the Interstate 26 off-ramps to Summerville at Exit 199 is set to open. Tying into the new interchange is Nexton Parkway, a five-mile artery that will wind its way through the development and connect to Cane Bay Plantation’s thousands of new homes to the north off U.S. Highway 176, also in unincorporated Berkeley County.
Helping to drive growth in the community is the $1 billion investment being made by Volvo to build a new automotive manufacturing plant less than 10 miles to the west off I-26 near Ridgeville. “The Charleston area is going through dramatic growth,” Gibadlo said. “Nexton is located in the path of that growth.”
Nexton will include 2,000 acres of green space and 50 miles of walking and biking trails.
